The Instruments

CampusReady is a self-diagnostic tool that provides data, reports, recommendations, and links to resources that help schools improve college and career readiness for students. The web-based diagnostic measures the Four Keys to College and Career Readiness, as identified by Dr. David T. Conley and the Educational Policy Improvement Center. The tool collects information from students, teachers, counselors, and administrators in middle (Grades 6–8) and high schools (Grades 9–12). Each school receives reports that can be used by both the school and district leaders to understand and shape strategies for increasing college readiness.

Note: The overview provided for this instrument includes content that may have been sourced from the instrument publisher's or author’s website (or other site providing information about the instrument). This information is presented for educational and informational purposes only. If you have any questions about the content or its permitted uses, please contact annenberg@brown.edu.

Initially intended to assess the impact of a career planning program at a gifted and talented baccalaureate magnet high school in a Southeastern city, the College and Career Readiness Self-Efficacy Inventory (CCRSI) is a tool that measures an individual's belief in their ability to enter a career pathway and be successful in higher education settings. The CCRSI contains 14 statements that ask about one's confidence in performing behaviors that are important for college and career readiness, covering four main factors: College Knowledge, Positive Personal Characteristics, Academic Competence, and Potential to Achieve Future Goals. The scale uses a Likert scale ranging from “5: strongly agree” to “1: strongly disagree,” and the CCRSI’s overall score ranges from 14 (low) to 70 (high).

Year developed: 2012.

The Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSE) is a self-report survey that measures how confident students feel about making career decisions. It was developed by Karen Taylor and Nancy Betz to apply Albert Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy to career decision making. The scale focuses on a student’s belief in their ability to complete key tasks needed to choose a career. These tasks are grouped into five areas: self-appraisal, occupational information, goal selection, planning, and problem solving.

The CIRCLE Classroom Observation Tool is primarily used as a coaching tool to support the development of high-quality instruction in early childhood classrooms. The tool is used to rate teachers' behavior and instruction during classroom observation visits spread over a full academic year.

Note: The overview provided for this instrument includes content that may have been sourced from the instrument publisher's or author’s website (or other site providing information about the instrument). This information is presented for educational and informational purposes only. If you have any questions about the content or its permitted uses, please contact annenberg@brown.edu.

Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) developed the Freshman Survey for collecting data on incoming college freshmen. The CIRP Freshman Survey focuses on the following domains: established behaviors in high school, academic preparedness, admissions decisions, expectations of college, interactions with peers and faculty, student values and goals, student demographic characteristics, and concerns about financing college.

Year developed: 1966.

The College Academic Self-Efficacy Scales (CASES) measures college students’ self-reported academic self-efficacy. CASES asks respondents to rate their confidence in various college activities such as note-taking, asking questions, writing, and class attendance. CASES has 33 items using a 5-points Likert scale ranging from 0 “very little confidence” to 4 “quite a lot of confidence”.

Year developed: 1988.

The College Readiness Assessment (CRA) is a learning progression-based measure of the trajectory of students’ abilities to connect representations of mathematical functions in grades 6-12. As a formative assessment building on cognitive research in mathematics learning, the CRA aims to help students transition smoothly from middle school to college-level math coursework. In contrast to other college readiness tests, which focus on quantitatively scoring the correctness of students’ answers, the CRA uses multi-level items to measure students’ mathematical proficiency from a cognitive perspective. CRA’s six levels of progression intend to show how students’ mathematical understanding and thinking developed rather than how correctly students answered the questions. CRA’s applicability to socioculturally diverse contexts has not been studied extensively.

Year developed:2011.

The College Readiness for Global Campus Survey was developed by Lee et al. (2019) to explore the college readiness of US and international undergraduate students. College readiness measures of the College Readiness for Global Campus Survey focus on two domains: academic readiness and sociocultural readiness. The academic readiness domain includes academic competencies such as critical thinking, problem-solving, computing skills, note-taking, presentation and test-taking skills, reading, writing, and mastery in subject areas. The sociocultural readiness domain includes 11 sociocultural competencies: collaboration and teamwork, commitment to learning, understanding college and career paths, responsibility, academic integrity, communication, creativity, independence, help-seeking, balancing multiple demands, and multicultural competence. The survey uses Likert-type questions ranging from 1 “none” to 5 “excellent”.

Year developed: 2019.

The College Readiness Scale (CRS) was designed to measure college readiness for teenagers with ADHD. It is a self-report measure focusing on behaviors related to college readiness (Maitland & Quinn, 2011). The 43-item scale has three subscales:

1. Self-determination, including self-knowledge, communication skills, and self-management (15 items).
2. Daily living skills, including self-care, organization, and time management (13 items).
3. Academic skills, including self-knowledge, study skills, and time management for academic tasks (15 items).

The Likert-scale items range from 0 “never/not at all” to 4 “very often/very true.” The internal reliability of the CRS is .95.

The College Survival and Success Scale (CSSC) measures noncognitive college readiness. First designed in 2006 and in the 2nd edition since 2011, the subscales that CSSC assesses include:

• Commitment to education.
• Self- and resource-management skills.
• Interpersonal and social skills.
• Academic success skills.
• Career planning skills.

Items are Likert-type, with response options ranging from “a lot like me” to “not like me.”

Year developed: 2006 (2nd edition since 2011).

The ISSAQ Intake Survey assesses the noncognitive skills of students transitioning into college (e.g., through college access programs, advising, first-year experience). The survey addresses twelve factors that represent the behavioral, motivational, emotional, and social domains of college success: organization, quality of focus, engagement, goal commitment, persistence, effort of focus, calmness, coping strategies, self-efficacy, help seeking, sense of belonging, and institutional commitment. These factors are used to articulate students' strengths and challenges, identify their likelihood of academic success and persistence, and connect them with support and resources. Subscore(s): Organization, Goal Directed Behavior, Coping Strategies, Self Efficacy, Help Seeking

Note: The overview provided for this instrument includes content that may have been sourced from the instrument publisher's or author’s website (or other site providing information about the instrument). This information is presented for educational and informational purposes only. If you have any questions about the content or its permitted uses, please contact annenberg@brown.edu.

California’s Early Assessment Program (EAP) consists of three parts: college readiness testing in 11th grade, academic preparation in 12th grade, and teacher professional development. EAP’s standardized math and English assessments measure high school juniors’ readiness for college-level work at California State University (CSU) campuses. Based on these assessments, EAP classifies students into four levels: 1) standard not met, 2) standard nearly met, 3) standard met, and 4) standard exceeded. Students taking EAP assessments receive information about their college readiness. If they are deemed unprepared for college, they can enroll in remedial courses in 12th grade and participate in the Early Start preparation program in the summer before enrolling in CSU or participating community colleges. The EAP assessments are administered as part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) tests in the spring semester of 11th grade.

Year developed: 2004.

The Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (3rd Edition) (LASSI) assesses awareness and use of learning and study strategies. It can be used diagnostically and prescriptively, for planning remediation enrichment, or as a pre-post measure for program evaluation. Subscore(s): There are 10 subscores: Anxiety, Attitude, Concentration, Information Processing, Motivation, Selecting Main Ideas, Self Testing, Test Strategies, Time Management, Using Academic Resources

Note: The overview provided for this instrument includes content that may have been sourced from the instrument publisher's or author’s website (or other site providing information about the instrument). This information is presented for educational and informational purposes only. If you have any questions about the content or its permitted uses, please contact annenberg@brown.edu.

Developed by Hung et al. (2010) and validated on a sample of Taiwanese college students, the Online Learning Readiness Scale (OLRS) explores five dimensions of readiness to study online: self-directed learning, learner control, motivation for learning, computer/Internet self-efficacy, and online communication self-efficacy.

Year developed: 2010.

Perceptions, Expectations, Emotions, and Knowledge about College (PEEK) is a diagnostic instrument focused on student ideas, attitudes, beliefs, and expectations of college. PEEK’s 30 items use a 5-point rating scale (from “not at all likely” to “extremely likely”) to assess students’ academic, personal, and social expectations. Such measurement could potentially assist students in forming more precise perceptions of their college surroundings and potentially prevent disengagement and dropout from college.

Year developed:1995.

The postsecondary education-going knowledge (PEG-K) scale developed by Martinez et al. (2017) focuses on the knowledge of various requirements for applying and enrolling in college. PEG-K has 46 true-false questions on three domains: access, preparedness/readiness, and affordability. In a sample of 163 students, PEG-K’s alpha reliability coefficient was .93 (Martinez et al., 2017).

The postsecondary education-going access aspirations (PEG-AA) scale proposed by Martinez et al. (2017) focuses on students’ ability to sustain hopes and dreams for the future despite real or perceived barriers. PEG-AA has 14 Likert-type questions (from 1 “not important” to 3 “very important”) on college aspirations, resilience, and expectations. In a sample of 163 students, PEG-AA’s alpha reliability coefficient was .69 (Martinez et al., 2017).

The Readiness and Expectations Questionnaire (REQ) is a researcher-designed instrument for measuring first-year postsecondary students’ expectations and preparedness for studying in college (Jansen et al., 2013; Jansen & van der Meer, 2007).

In the domain of student expectations, the REQ focuses on the expectations to be inducted by teachers, be involved in research or be told about research activities, that university will be similar to high school, and that they need time-management skills.

In the college readiness domain, the REQ measures students’ perceived readiness in information processing, collaborative learning, time management, and writing.

Year developed:2006.

The Student Athlete Pre-Screening Questionnaire (SA-PSQ) is a tool for evaluating the college readiness of student athletes. It is derived from the CollegeCareerReady™ School Diagnostic, which assesses four key areas of college readiness, including cognitive strategies, content knowledge, learning skills and techniques, and transition knowledge and skills. The SA-PSQ measure is predictive of college GPA and probation status, and it has also been shown to account for a distinct variation in college readiness knowledge and skills beyond typical demographic factors and academic preparation variables such as high school GPA and SAT scores (Lombardi et al., 2012).

Year developed:2012.

The Texas Success Initiative Assessment 2.0 (TSIA2) was introduced in 2021, replacing the previous version utilized since 2013. As per the Texas State Legislature mandate, all students entering Texas public higher education institutions must undergo TSIA2 or qualify for one of its exemptions. The TSIA2 evaluates students' readiness for college-level coursework by testing them in English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR) and Mathematics.

In ELAR, TSIA2 focuses on two key areas: reading and writing. The reading portion assesses comprehension and analysis of literary, informational, and argumentative texts, including paired passages. Meanwhile, the writing portion evaluates skills in revising and editing sentences, paragraphs, and early drafts of essays.

In mathematics, TSIA2 focuses on four key areas: quantitative reasoning, algebraic reasoning, geometric and spatial reasoning, and probabilistic and statistical reasoning.

Students taking the TSIA2 begin by completing College Readiness Classification (CRC) tests in ELAR and mathematics, comprising multiple-choice questions. If students fail to meet the college readiness benchmarks on these CRC tests, they proceed with the multiple-choice diagnostic tests in ELAR and Mathematics. These diagnostic tests present an additional chance for the students to demonstrate their preparedness for college-level coursework. They also highlight students' strengths and weaknesses in specific content areas, thus facilitating their placement into suitable courses and enabling them to receive the necessary remedial support and interventions.

Year developed:2021 (TSIA2 replaced TSIA introduced in 2013).

ThinkReady (formerly C-PAS, CPAS) is an innovative assessment designed to track the development of Key Cognitive Strategies (KCS), which are the thinking skills necessary for college and career readiness and success. Through extensive research over more than a decade, Dr. David T. Conley, founder of the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC), identified the KCS necessary for success in college or a career: Problem Formulation, Research, Interpretation, Communication, Precision/Accuracy